Page 17 of Unmasked Anarchy (Fallen Sons MC #3)

W e make it back to the clubhouse in one piece but my mind is twisted and confused.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go from here.

Gage’s words linger in my mind, repeating over and over again, and the look on his face haunts me.

I know he’s desperate, I know that, but it doesn’t mean seeing the pain in his eyes doesn’t bother me.

It does.

I know going back will only result in things going back to the way they were, even if he tries to change, it will only be for a while.

We both deserve better, I know that.

The club members aren’t here, so the compound is quiet.

I picked up a couple of clothes for myself in town, so I go into Kael’s room, take a shower, and freshen up.

Just as I’m finishing, I hear the rumble of the motorbikes returning.

Brushing my hair, I leave it out as I walk into the warm sunny day.

I know something is wrong right away.

Wolfe gets off his bike and sends it, the large machine toppling down into the dust as he roars with frustration.

Oh no.

My eyes search for Kael as a group of old ladies come rushing out, Mera and Nia included.

Kael gets off his bike, and even from here, I can see he is covered in blood.

My heart lurches.

I run.

Kael’s got a limp, blood splattered along his jaw and down the front of his white tee. It’s not his blood—I know by the way he moves; he isn’t injured enough for that amount of blood. No, that belongs to someone else, and judging by Wolfe’s reaction, it is one of their men.

He catches me before I can reach him, his arms squeezing hard enough to send the air in my lungs rushing out.

For a beat he just holds on. He shakes. I don’t say a thing.

The yard’s full of raised voices. Wolfe is barking orders, and Mera stands by his side, her eyes wide as she watches him unravel.

“Jesus Christ,” I whisper, stepping back. “What happened?”

Kael breathes in through his nose, slow. “Ambush. The old stretch pass where we always run lookout. They were waitin’, Sable. Waitin’ for us.”

My heart sinks. “Who?”

He looks over my head, eyes darting. “Don’t know. Masks, but—” He stops. “Lost Carter and Potts. Didn’t even get a shot off. Blood fuckin’ everywhere.”

The silence that follows is heavier than the noise. I search Kael’s face for something, anything, but he is shut off. Before he can say anything else, Wolfe is striding over. His boots kicking up dust with every step. “Was this your old man?”

I blink, shaking my head. “What?”

“Was this,” he grinds out, “your fuckin’ old man?”

“No,” I say, quickly.

All eyes are on me.

“How the fuck could you know that?”

I stare at Mera and she looks at me, helpless, knowing I have to tell them that I was with Gage, and in doing that, it will make me look not only like a traitor but it will hurt Kael.

“Answer me,” Wolfe growls.

Heat rises up my neck. “It wasn’t Gage. He was—he was with me.” The words taste bitter on my tongue.

Kael’s whole body locks up. Wolfe’s face flashes with a mix of rage and confusion.

“He was with you?” Kael repeats, slow.

I open my mouth, then close it again. I don’t know what to say that won’t make this worse. I don’t even know why I want to make it better.

“Yes. He found us in town. He wanted to talk. I was with him for a while. He couldn’t have been on the road at the same time.”

I’m not protecting Gage, I’m just telling the truth, even though the truth won’t protect me.

Kael turns, then with a growl he too kicks his bike over, sending it crashing into another one.

They go down like dominos, and everyone just stands there, their faces blank as the bikes crash to the ground.

Mera is crying after hearing the news of the members who passed, and I’m left standing there, not knowing where to go.

“We’re not done with this conversation,” Wolfe mutters before turning and leaving me in the dust, alone.

I need to get away from all of these bikers, staring at me like I was the one to pull the trigger.

I move past the club house, and toward the back sheds where it’s quiet.

Stepping inside, Kael is there, leaning against the trunk of a ruined Mustang.

He’s got a bottle of beer in his hands and his head is lowered.

He doesn’t look up, but I know he hears me because his whole body tenses.

“What do you want, Sable,” he grinds out.

“I wanted to talk to you,” I say, not stepping closer.

“About what? How you were with your fuckin’ man?”

“What do you want from me, Kael?”

He finally looks up, pinning me with his stare. “I want you to quit playing everyone. Especially me.”

“You know, I’m done being told I’m playing with anyone. I haven’t done a fucking thing. I haven’t once asked you for anything, Kael. You’re the one who came after me. Not the other way around. I never promised you shit.”

“You let me put my fuckin’ dick inside you.”

I slap him.

It comes as both a shock to me and him.

The sound radiates through the room.

He takes a step forward. Kael is six foot something of muscle, rage and pain, but I’m not backing up, not even when he gets close enough for me to smell the beer on his breath.

“Fuck you,” I hiss. “I am so fucking confused and messed up and broken, but I thought you were different. I thought you saw something in me that he never did. But here you are proving you are just like him. Let me do you a favor and get out of your hair.”

I turn and leave him there, alone with the ruined car and his asshole attitude.

I rush out of the compound, but the harsh reality is ... I have nowhere to go.

~*~*~*~*~

I T’S DARK BY THE TIME I find the little park near Main Street, the kind with equipment so ancient even the ghosts of children have abandoned it.

A single streetlight flickers near the curb, and over the road, people are leaving their workplaces for the night.

I find a swing and sit on it, praying it doesn’t break, because the squeaking sound it makes has me uneasy.

My hands shake. I press them flat between my thighs to keep them still, trying to calm my breathing.

Today I learned something, a bitter truth that I always knew but never fully accepted until right now.

I have no one. No one to come pick me up.

No dad to ground me. No best friend to offer wine. The full weight of it slams into me.

I am completely alone.

I can’t help the tears that flow down my cheeks. I hiccup through them, not bothering to swipe them away.

At some point, the low growl of a motorcycle roars through the night. It parks on the curb before everything goes quiet again. It’s either someone from Kael’s club, or Gage. There are no other options. I guess it depends who felt like a little more fighting tonight.

As he approaches, I am shocked to see it is Kael.

I didn’t think he would come.

He takes the swing next to mine, the chains groaning under his weight. Neither of us speak. For a long time, he just sits, elbows propped on knees, eyes locked somewhere near the broken slides.

“I fucked up,” he finally says, so quiet I almost miss it. “You’re right. I got no claim. You don’t belong to me. Never did. Maybe never will.”

I wipe my face hard and sniff. “I get it, Kael, believe me I do. But the situation I’m in, it’s so god damned confusing. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Understand that, but I need you to know, you owe me nothin’.”

I wrap my hands around the chains, the night air giving me a chill. “You’re wrong. I owe you my life.”

The silence grows thick again, but it’s not heavy. It’s ... honest.

He shifts, and the swing moves as he angles himself slightly toward me. “Tell me about him.”

It takes me a second to realize he means Gage. But not the monster, not the biker, but the man who pulled me from a wreck and saved me from a life that would have killed me.

“He saved me,” I say, softly. “My life wasn’t great, and my mother died at my hand.

Gage somehow got me out of it. I never bothered to ask how; I didn’t want to know.

He lived up the street, and although I don’t remember it, he told me he met me when I was younger and after that, he used to keep an eye on me.

When he saw the flashing police lights that night, he knew he had to help.

I guess it’s safe to say he probably heard more than one fight in the time we lived there.

My mother was an addict, and a very violent woman. ”

“He good to you?”

I breathe slow, because I don’t honestly know the answer to that.

“Gage isn’t the kind of man to do love, but he kept me safe and he gave me a home.

Until the club started eating parts of him that I fell in love with.

The rage. The violence.” I rub my upper arm, trying to warm it up.

“It changed him, and slowly, the love I was so desperately seeking got further and further away. It broke parts of me.”

Kael goes silent for a while. “You love him?”

I pause, it’s the same question the girls asked. “I don’t know if I ever truly loved him, not in the way I should have, but I will always owe so much to Gage and for that, yeah, I have love for him.”

“Gotta know,” Kael murmurs. “You want this, with us?”

I push out of my swing, standing so my legs don’t go to jelly.

I turn to him, holding his gaze. “You’re the first thing in so long that has reminded me that there is good out there, Kael.

I can’t help the way I feel for you. I have tried, believe me.

So yeah, I do want it, because I want to see what life with you would be like.

It’s complicated, though. Gage isn’t going to step back, not without a fight. ”

“You willin’ to fight that war?”

I exhale, my body humming with a new feeling.

Determination. “Yes. But I don’t want to see him hurt.

I couldn’t live with that. I truly believe there is someone out there for Gage, someone who will love him for every single thing he is, and in return, he will give the best of himself. That person isn’t me.”

He leans back, lets the swing take him half an inch. “If you wanna do this, I’ll get you out. No strings. I want your freedom, not for me, but for you.”

I study his face, and I know he means it.

"Are you willing to fight the war for me?" I whisper, afraid of his answers.

He grins, the slow, dangerous kind that breaks over his face with the promise of disaster. “In a heartbeat. The minute I saw you, darlin’, I knew I’d burn the world down for you.”

My heart skips a beat.

I take a step, then another, until I’m crowding into his space and the swing bumps my knees.

Kael doesn’t make any move to stand—he just plants his boots wide and opens his hands, accepting whatever I plan to give him.

I drag my fingers through his tangle of hair.

He tilts his head back, blue eyes devouring every inch of my face.

“I’m in,” I whisper, surprise tripping through me like it’s my first truth in years. “I want out, Kael, I want to be free, and I want this, whatever the hell it is.”

His arm slides around my waist, rough palm burning through the thin cotton of my shirt. He pulls me close and his other hand curls around the back of my neck, pulling my mouth down to his. He kisses me long and deep, sucking the air from my lungs and turning my legs to jelly.

“You sure you want to go from one club to another?” he murmurs, pulling back.

“It was never the club life I didn’t love,” I whisper.

“Then welcome to the Fallen Sons MC, baby.”

And just like that, I feel like I am finally home.